Theoretical and practical issues that may arise for a young woman (25-35 years) when
buying a wedding dress
Introduction
The current essay explains the factors that millennials consider before purchasing a
wedding dress. Social media is one of the major factors that have been identified as
influencing a millennial decision to purchase a product. Other than social media, the essay
has explained the influence of family, friends, and time when one is deciding to buy a
product. The experience for many brides during the process of searching and identifying the
perfect wedding dress has been associated with deep emotions.
A lot of focus has been placed on the budget and where to shop the wedding dresses,
taking into consideration that most millennial admire high-quality items even when the
budget is limited. Therefore, brides have increased their interactions with brands, designers as
well as family or friends to question and discuss matters concerning the wedding gown they
would like to purchase. The essay also explains two main issues (price, time required to
customize dresses) that may affect the consumer and how the brand can address them.
Journey map for the customer to buy the product
The Internet has been recognized as the major resource influencing millennial
decisions to make purchases (Patil, 2020). According to SivaKumar & Gunasekaran (2017),
millennials are educated and have technologically perceptive skills since they use their
smartphones to collect information about a product before making any purchasing decision.
Millennials consider technology as cheaper, fast, and convenient when shopping online.
Besides, it is easier to compare prices for different products. Therefore, the internet will allow
brides to identify the wedding dresses they want and obtain detailed information about them.
The brides will also communicate and interact with providers of wedding resources.
Therefore, millennials consider the internet as important in the overall process during the
purchase of the product.
To choose a wedding dress, the customer should have a budget. The customer needs
to know how much she can afford to spend to avoid falling in love with dresses she cannot
afford (Rossol & Lapolla, 2019). Thereafter, she will need to pay a deposit for the dress
ordered. In many cases, the deposits require the customer to pay half the cost of the product.
It is also important to enquire if there are the least expensive options and later work their way
up to more expensive options.
Besides budget, the theme and location of the wedding matter. For instance, if the
wedding is taking place at the church, the dress should be made in a design that is not too
revealing. If the location is known, it is also important to consider the accessories to wear
before choosing the wedding dress. For instance, if the bride has the accessories ready, she
should carry them along to ensure that they work together with the dress that has been chosen
(Radojka & Filipović, 2017).
However, issues such as not finding the desired dressing chosen may affect the
journey. Unlike most brides who prefer white gowns because of traditions or other factors,
millennials opt for a gown with other colors such as pale pink, nude and taupe. Apart from
wedding dresses with different colors, Hur et al (2017) state that most millennial are after
dresses that are re-wearable, durable and affordable. Therefore, the bride may identify the
dress she wants but it may take time to find a dress builder with the necessary skills to make
the dress.
Issues influencing the customer journey
Three main issues that influence the decisions customers make include price, peer
recommendations, personality, and self-concept, and time were taken to make the dress. A
wedding dress is one of the clothing that defines a special day. In most cases, a lot of money
is used and time is spent to identify the perfect wedding dress. Ordun (2015) explains that the
prices of the dresses vary depending on several factors. Individual customizations are one of
the factors that affect the price of the product. Besides, the designer makes the dress
depending on the style, alterations, and extras one needs that affect the final price of the
wedding dress. The factors indicate the average price that the wedding dress is likely to cost
taking into account that there will be general costs incurred when shopping for the wedding
dress.
According to SivaKumar & Gunasekaran (2017), when a millennial wants to make
purchases online, she is likely to consider the recommendations from the peers for reasons
such as distrust of brands. They simply want to know the opinions that their peers have
towards a certain product. For instance, people (family or friends) who look at gowns
available and decide what is best for them instead of deciding what is best for the bride
usually accompany the bride. In other instances, the bride’s interest may align with the
interest of the people accompanying her to select the gown (Ordun, 2015). About peer
recommendations, a bride should have a strong personality and self-concept, which is
relevant in influencing the customer journey to purchase a wedding dress.
Research by Rossol& Lapolla explains that brides have suffered emotional tension
as well as physical isolation since they often trust family or friends when making their
decisions. Personality helps us understand that everyone is different. Therefore, people
should be open when making decisions or when encountering new experiences. Research by
Min et al (2016) explains that people purchase products to appreciate and get closer to their
ideal selves. Therefore, a bride should purchase a dress if it is beautiful and she feels
comfortable wearing it.
Another issue that influences the customer is the time taken to make the wedding
dress. Following research by Radojka & Filipović (2017), many made-to-order wedding
dresses take more than six months to create. The process of making the dress also involves
fitting the dress around three times to allow for customer alterations and ensure that the dress
flatters with the body type. If the bride delays choosing a wedding dress and she is on a tight
timeline, she may have to incur many costs to get the dress made in time. If the budget cannot
fit, the bride may have to choose another dress that may not be appealing, as she desired.
How a marketer or retailer may deal with the issues identified
The impacts of social media on millennials who are making decisions to purchase
wedding dresses have significantly grown. Therefore, all designers, manufacturers, and
retailers must identify more effective ways to influence their customer's purchase decisions.
One of the major impacts of social media is the ability to generate word of mouth. According
to Coles (2017), customers prefer the internet to commercial sources for seeking advice and
identifying specific products manufactured by a certain brand. Besides, millennials believe
that the internet offers a lot of valuable information. However, the greatest concerns are that
the data shared about wedding dresses should not only be community-driven but also driven
by price and performance.
To connect well with the brides, wedding dress designers, retailers and manufactures
should use social medial not only for passing information but for creating means in which
they can engage their customers in the purchase decision process (Hur et al., 2017). For
instance, a customer needs to understand how to evaluate the price of a wedding dress.
Therefore, if wedding dress designers decide to create videos to talk about how a dress is
constructed, they should consider adding content such as the essential construction elements
and those that are not so that the customer can have an estimate of the money to set aside. In
addition, it is important that designers, manufactures, and designers create apps on
smartphones to connect the brides more to people who can help and reassure them of the right
decisions to make when shopping for wedding dresses (SivaKumar & Gunasekaran, 2017).
Besides the issue of prices and mobile apps, an online mechanism is also relevant in
minimizing the time required to customize customer dresses. According to LEAH, the
customers can interact with the dress builder using a data-backed survey, which requires the
customer to answer several questions. After answering the questions, the customer gets to see
a sketch of the fabrics and lengths that they have personally recommended. If any changes
need to be done, the customer is allowed to give her suggestions or even browsing through
customizations that she needs (Patil, 2020). T
Therefore, the alterations are made in a short time and the bride will not be required to
make many fittings as compared to instances where brides travel to the shops to make fittings
to identify if there are any changes to be done. As a result, the bridal industry will be able to
experience a good performance because of their effectiveness in attracting customers.
Besides, the industry will have a good idea of their customers' expectations that gives a
competitive advantage in the sector.
References
Hur, H. J., Lee, H. K., & Choo, H. J. (2017). Understanding usage intention in innovative
mobile app service: Comparison between millennial and mature consumers.
Computers in Human Behavior, 73, 353-361.
Min, S., Ceballos, L. M., & Yurchisin, J. (2016, November). Exploring Role Power within
Bridal Gown Selection Process. In International Textile and Apparel Association
Annual Conference Proceedings (Vol. 73, No. 1). Iowa State University Digital Press.
Ordun, G. (2015). Millennial (Gen Y) consumer behavior their shopping preferences and
perceptual maps associated with brand loyalty. Canadian Social Science, 11(4), 4055.
Radojka, K., & Filipović, Z. (2017). Gender differences and consumer behavior of
millennials. Acta Economica Et Turistica, 3(1), 5-13.
Rossol, E., & Lapolla, K. (2019, December). Wine Dyed: Multi-wear Sustainable Wedding
Dress. In International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference
Proceedings (Vol. 76, No. 1). Iowa State University Digital Press.
SivaKumar, A., & Gunasekaran, A. (2017). An empirical study on the factors affecting online
shopping behavior of millennial consumers. Journal of Internet Commerce, 16(3),
219-230.
Patil, M. S. (2020, October). IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON SOCIETY. In Global
Research Conference Forum (p. 100).
Coles, L. (2017). Social media for business: foolproof tips to help you promote your business
or your brand. John Wiley & Sons.